Essays and commentaries from Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher

Monday, June 05, 2017

AUTHENTIC ISLAM (DEENULLAH) & CAPITALISM

AUTHENTIC ISLAM (DEENULLAH) & CAPITALISM

By: Kassim Ahmad

June 6th, 2017

The
main difference between authentic Islam (way of life) from capitalistic
way of life is the practice of usury, toned down to become interest.
Usury is strongly denounced in the Quran. God and his messenger declare
war on usury. Trade is allowed, but not usury. Why? Because trade makes a
community prosper , while usury deprives.

The so-called Islamic bank goes around interest or usury by making the
borrower agree to the terms. This is obviously hypocrisy of the highest
order! But then without interest or usury how can the banks make money?
In true usury-less banks, borrowing, is taken from the money deposited
by millions of people. At any one time, there is much, much more money
in the banks than loaned out. The banks use this huge sum to loan out
for trade.or the banks can engage in trading too. This is how true
Islamic-banking system avoids taking interest or usury, which is
strongly forbidden. As I said, trade prospers while usury deprives.

Has there been any system in the world which practiced this zero usury mode of life?

There must have been. At the time of Prophet Muhammad and the four
righteous caliphates, this usury-less system must have been practiced.
The third caliph, Usman Ibni Affan, was reported to be extremely rich.
It is reported that the Arab-Islamic armies of liberation swept thorough
the two hegemonic powers of the then world, Persia and Rome, and went
to be Power No.One in Baghdad for eight centuries. Medieval Europe sat
at the feet of Baghdad for three centuries before their renaissance.

Now we must consider the phenomenon of colonialism. Why almost all
European power become colonialist: first wave, Spain and Portugal, then
the second wave Dutch and British. The great Malay port of Malacca was
the trading home of more than 80 nations in the 14th and 15th centuries.
In 1511 Malacca fell to the Portuguese. In the East, only Japan and
Thailand became colonialist, Thailand colonized the Malay sovereignty state of Pattani. Japan colonized Malaya for a time before the return of
the British.

I have one question to ask about colonialism. Has anyone counted the
costs in lives and property of colonialism? It must be countless! It
occurs to me that what we are seeing today in the almost everyday
occurrence of "terrorism" is an impotent retribution of once colonized
sovereign states of the Third World.

How to resolve this contradiction of historical colonialism and
counter-terrorism of impotent states? Look at the nuclear-armed
superpowers of United Sates, Russia, Britain, France and China - who
elected them? See the hypocrisy of it all? The way out is for all the
colonial powers to ask forgiveness from the colonized people and pay
token compensation.

About Me

(About Kassim Ahmad
By: M. Bakri Musa)
Kassim Ahmad is Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher. He grabbed national headlines in the 1950s with his dissertation on the characters of Hang Tuah (Perwatakan Hang Tuah), the Malay literary classic. In it he challenged the traditional interpretation and made the hitherto hero Hang Tuah as nothing more than a palace hack, and elevated the anti-hero Hang Jebat as the true hero, willing to kill even the sultan in defence of honor and principles.
Kassim was jailed for nearly five years under the ISA for daring to express openly his political views, an experience which he recounted in his book, Universiti Kedua (Second University).
Kassim again shook the Malay world with his "Hadith: A Re-Examination" in which he challenges the infallibility of the purported words of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Except for an honorary doctorate in Letters conferred by the National University of Malaysia, the country has not seen fit to honor this great public intellectual.
June 2005